Here is Cat, my art muse, keeping an eye on me. Hard work it is, trying to get me to understand the application of more than three tones in a charcoal sketch.
My art muse
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My charcoal sketch of an apple.
A charcoal sketch, supposed to be with several tones
In honor of Mardi Gras, I present my Mardi Gras quilt.
In February, I took a two-session class at Sew Much More, taught by the talented and gracious Terri Waddle. The class instructions said to bring several single-color or tone-on-tone fabrics. In my stash of about a gazillion pieces of fabric — a slight exaggeration, but not by much — I usually have zero pieces that are plain or tone-on-tone. My tastes run to fabrics with bright prints: flames, lightning bolts, dogs, cats, and roses, for example, and anything batik or Asian.
What’s an art quilter to do?
Fortunately, my friend Shelly gave me a fat quarter set of — TA-DA! — some really nice single-color fabric for Christmas. Just in time! Once I saw how bright the quilt was with my new single-color fabrics, I named it my Mardi Gras quilt.
Pattern ready to be traced
Fabric legend, very important
Starting to come together
Only one more piece!
Quilted and binding finished. It’s a miracle!
In my art class I’m working on tone, the variations from light to dark. In sewing and quilting, I would use the word “value” for the same idea. Here is my tone chart (charcoal on cotton paper).
10 values
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And here is Cat, having moved to the artist’s station next to me.
Cat as artist
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Internet service update: Day 20 without our regular Internet service. I’m starting to make the rounds to places that provide free Wi-Fi, which means that when hubby invites me to breakfast at McDonald’s, sometimes I go. Yikes!
Drawing foreshortened books is hard for the beginning artist (me). I had just gotten the reference points drawn on my sketch when Cat decided to bathe. She knocked over the top book and I had to start over.
Practice makes perfect, right? Well, not for me, not just yet.
It’s all about keeping clean and warm
Still life with cat, at the artist station next to mine during a drawing lesson.
A very still cat staying warm under the artist’s lamp
It's a long story ... 